January job ads give no sign of improvement

Last updated 10:32 21/02/2013

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Internet and newspaper ads fell 1.5 per cent in January, after a 0.4 per cent lift in December, according to the ANZ Job Ads survey.

Newspaper job ads are rising in Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu and Auckland, but are falling in Canterbury, Otago and Waikato. Nationally, the number of newspaper job ads rose 0.4 per cent in January, seasonally adjusted.

But that was offset by a 1.8 per cent fall in internet job ads, with online job ads down in Auckland and Wellington, but up slightly in Canterbury.

The composite index for total job ads, which puts more weight on newspaper ads, fell 0.7 per cent in January to be down 6.4 per cent on a year ago.

ANZ said that continued to suggest an unemployment rate sticking around the 7 per cent mark in the next six months.

The labour market remained the "missing in action" ingredient for a sustained economic upturn to take hold.

Official unemployment remains high at 6.9 per cent. In The December quarter, the number of people employed slumped 23,000, down 1 per cent.